Muhammad Ali
Sting Like A Bee, 1978
Estimate: 40.000 - 60.000 USD
Price realised: 425.313 USD
Price realised: 425.313 USD
Description
Sting Like A Bee, 1978
Felt pen and acrylic paint on paper
Unsigned
Framed
This original painting was done by Muhammad Ali during the filming of Freedom Road in Natchez, Mississippi, 1978. It was done in preparation for the later screenprint of the same name. Rodney Hilton Brown would fly down to Natchez to work on these sketches and paintings whilst Ali was filming. The painting shows a victorious Ali standing over his opponent in the ring with his opponent saying "Ref, he did float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!" whilst the referee is fleeing the ring saying "Yes, if you were smart, you run like me". The phrase "Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee" was first uttered by Ali in 1964 before his first fight with Sonny Liston. Still going by his birth nam
The work is part of a series of preparatory works and duplicate artworks done for a set of four fine art, signed, limited edition silkscreen prints. This work was released in a limited edition of 500 in 1979. This work is the only artwork to include a complete Muhammad Ali poem.
Provenance: From the Collection of Rodney Hilton Brown, formerly President of Hilton Fine Arts, Ltd., publisher of Muhammad Ali's limited edition silkscreen prints, 1978.
Exhibited: Muhammad Ali: World Premier Art Exhibition, Roseland Grand Ballroom, New York, January, 1979.
Literature: BROWN, Rodney Hilton, Muhammad Ali: The Untold Story: Painter, Poet & Prophet, Fairhaven, MA: The War Museum Press, 2021, p. 65 (illus.) Frame: 17 x 20 1/2 in.
Felt pen and acrylic paint on paper
Unsigned
Framed
This original painting was done by Muhammad Ali during the filming of Freedom Road in Natchez, Mississippi, 1978. It was done in preparation for the later screenprint of the same name. Rodney Hilton Brown would fly down to Natchez to work on these sketches and paintings whilst Ali was filming. The painting shows a victorious Ali standing over his opponent in the ring with his opponent saying "Ref, he did float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!" whilst the referee is fleeing the ring saying "Yes, if you were smart, you run like me". The phrase "Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee" was first uttered by Ali in 1964 before his first fight with Sonny Liston. Still going by his birth nam
The work is part of a series of preparatory works and duplicate artworks done for a set of four fine art, signed, limited edition silkscreen prints. This work was released in a limited edition of 500 in 1979. This work is the only artwork to include a complete Muhammad Ali poem.
Provenance: From the Collection of Rodney Hilton Brown, formerly President of Hilton Fine Arts, Ltd., publisher of Muhammad Ali's limited edition silkscreen prints, 1978.
Exhibited: Muhammad Ali: World Premier Art Exhibition, Roseland Grand Ballroom, New York, January, 1979.
Literature: BROWN, Rodney Hilton, Muhammad Ali: The Untold Story: Painter, Poet & Prophet, Fairhaven, MA: The War Museum Press, 2021, p. 65 (illus.) Frame: 17 x 20 1/2 in.
A top price for Muhammad Ali
When the work Sting Like A Bee, 1978 by Muhammad Ali was auctioned at Bonhams in New York in October 2021, the result exceeded expectations many times over. The upper estimate was set at a - in retrospect quite modest - USD 60,000.00 but the actual price achieved was more than seven times as high at USD 425,312.50 (€ 368,172.18). This high result makes Sting Like A Bee, 1978 the most expensive artwork by Muhammad Ali that we have observed at auctions so far.
Ein Spitzenpreis für Muhammad Ali
Als die Arbeit Sting Like A Bee, 1978 von Muhammad Ali im Oktober 2021 bei Bonhams in New York versteigert wurde, übertraf das Ergebnis die Erwartungen um ein Vielfaches. Der obere Schätzpreis war mit – rückwirkend betrachtet recht bescheidenen – USD 60.000,00 angesetzt, der tatsächlich erzielte Preis hingegen war mit USD 425.312,50 (€ 368.172,18) mehr als siebenmal so hoch. Dieses hohe Ergebnis macht Sting Like A Bee, 1978 zu dem teuersten Kunstwerk von Muhammad Ali, das wir bisher bei Auktionen beobachtet haben.
Muhammad Ali - Auction history
